Two days ago I made the mistake of chatting to some guys on the beach, while I was connecting my lines. I have made my lines KOOK-Proof with knots on the front lines and loops on the back lines. Guess what! You can still connect up the lines so that the left and right side lines are reversed. This results in a situation with exactly the same results, on launch. as if you grabbed the kite bar flipped over 180 degrees. (I have also done that twice in 5 years).

What scares me most about kitesurfing is the fact that even normally careful people make stupid mistakes, usually when their set routine is interrupted. The mistakes happen to me on a random schedule, sometimes separated by 50 or 60 kiting sessions...just when you think you have it wired and can relax...bam, you make a simple mistake.

The kook-proof (goof-proof) connector concept was a wonderful advance and mind easer, when it made its appearance a few years ago...and I might add: BEFORE the development of flat kites!

The worst mistake a kiter could make in hooking up the lines with "C" kites, was to connect the back and front lines on one side of the kite correctly, and the other side's lines reversed, with the back line connected to the front of the kite and the front line connected to the back of the kite. This resulted in an immediate series of kite loops, right from the launch...and was dangerous because the looping started too fast for the kiter to react... a dragging down the beach resulted.

The other somewhat common mistake in hooking up the lines to a ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œCÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚

umm. dude. ive got an airush flow sle. ive hooked my left side to right and right to left. and back right to back left etc. heaps and it don't make any difference at all. i just turn the bar the other way around

edit: also read the whole post. thing is don't you look at your lines before you launch? to at least make sure their not crossed over. so you'd see it crossed over then turn bar 180 before launch? even on self launch's this is possible. its a basic knowledge. sorry if i come out rude :

Ten4 wrote:umm. dude. ive got an airush flow sle. ive hooked my left side to right and right to left. and back right to back left etc. heaps and it don't make any difference at all. i just turn the bar the other way around

edit: also read the whole post. thing is don't you look at your lines before you launch? to at least make sure their not crossed over. so you'd see it crossed over then turn bar 180 before launch? even on self launch's this is possible. its a basic knowledge. sorry if i come out rude :

There are a number of self-lauching techniques, where you do not get a good view down your lines to check for twists. In a perfect world, we would all be launching our kites on a big, flat, sandy beach with steady wind and a team of friends. The "C" kites self-launched nicely, using the sanded wing tip method, but the high pressure flat kites don't self launch as well with this method, and with most of the other self-launching methods for flat kites, the kiter does not get such a good view of the lines, before the kite takes off.

I don't mind rude criticism, as long as I learn something of value from it. Thanks for your comments. I welcome criticism of any of the opinions I expressed in my original post, but would like to see most of them directed toward the concept of the "left-to-right" KOOK-Proof idea.

Were your kook-proof connectors colour coded as well?
The use of different colours is not quite as fool-proof as what you have shown, but it is quite good.
People have to be concentrating on getting it right laying the lines out and connecting them, so the system is not the whole answer, just makes it easier not to make a mistake.

kitezilla wrote:
There are a number of self-lauching techniques, where you do not get a good view down your lines to check for twists. In a perfect world, we would all be launching our kites on a big, flat, sandy beach with steady wind and a team of friends. The "C" kites self-launched nicely, using the sanded wing tip method, but the high pressure flat kites don't self launch as well with this method, and with most of the other self-launching methods for flat kites, the kiter does not get such a good view of the lines, before the kite takes off.

Kitezilla,

I agree with you 100%. When self launching, in non-perfect conditions,
the lines only become fully visible near the end, when the lines are
fully tensioned. Depending on how much sand you've put on your
wing tip, the kite may be ready to power up and launch by this
time, without you getting a good clear view of the lines. That is
why self launching (my experience is with C-kites only) is so
tricky and can be dangerous.

I always enjoyed reading your posts about your tinkerings, and I
appreciate you sharing your ideas about safety. It is easy to get
distracted during a launch. Even during an assisted launch, I've given the
signal for a release, only to realize once the kite was in the air
that I never checked my front lines. Luckily, my lines were fine, but it
scared me to think what it could have been if something was reversed.

I just finished putting colored electrical tape on the pigtails and kite line ends.

However, in my defense, I would have to say that when a person is distracted by conversation with other beachgoers, they develop a temporary stupidness, which includes color blindness. I could imagine the same thing happening, even with color coding. I think this mistake was the result of over-conficence and distraction. There is some risk to being "sociable", but I would find it hard to give that up.

The only solution for me will be to have my kites set up with 100% KOOK-Proof connectors. Now, I just need to find the right one. I would like to find a connector which is less "tinkered".... maybe along the lines of this sort of a "key connector", but of stainless steel, strong and reliable.

One thing that surprised me when I recently got new Waroo 06s, is that there is no useful colour coding at all:

even tho' the left lines are red & the right lines are gray, the rear-line bridle attachments at the kite are simply blue on both sides (only the front-line attachments are coded red & blue, but, of course, it really doesn't matter with the front lines anyway).

The important thing, at a minimum, is to have 2 different colours for the attachment points for the rear lines & a third colour for the front lines attachment points. Similarly, if you're going to use coloured flying lines, the 2 back lines should be 2 different colours & the front lines should be a third colour. Why would Best not bother to take this very simple precaution?

Take your favourite marker pen and write a checklist on the kite
Put two balls on one side of the rear lines
Put double pigtails on one side
Take four rings and four balls in increasing size
Just take one extra check when attached all the lines to see that the color match up, 10 seconds of just checking it all again is better then attaching double fail safety systems on the kite I would say.

Well Ozone has colored & numbered lines ( including the pigtails )which makes hard to make a mistake .... though once I forgot to connect the 5th line... casue I wanted so hard to get into the water... but beside of this I think that system works pretty good

But since all my kites have their own bar I just keep them attached .... even more simple